The United Nations Security Council held a session that discussed the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially after the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s call for an international peace conference under the supervision of the United Nations. Riyad Al-Maliki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Palestine, delivered his speech at the session, stressing that it is no longer sufficient to say that the settlements are illegal, rather accountability must be ensured. Furthermore, he indicated that it is no longer sufficient to talk about the two-state solution, but rather it must be accompanied by recognition of the state of Palestine and support for its sovereignty over the occupied territories on 1967 borders. He also said that an international peace conference could help generate the momentum needed to help the parties negotiate a peace agreement.
On the other hand, the representative of Israel said that the Security Council’s focus on Israel reflects an institutional bias against it, and believed that calling for an international conference does not solve any issues. Representatives of member states of the Security Council spoke, where several countries, including Indonesia, South Africa, Tunisia, Dominican Republic, Niger, China, and Vietnam expressed their support for the call of holding an international peace conference, while the United States rejected it, and representatives of other countries, such as Germany and the United Kingdom, did not indicate their position on the call.
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